'Solaris' star, holiday shopping, Dr. Mandayam Srinivasan, and more on today's show.


Top Features

Bit Chat: George Clooney
Watch Monday's episode of "The Screen Savers" to see Kris Kosach's interview with Clooney, star of the cryptic, sci-fi romance Solaris, and find out what America's hunkiest Hollywood star wants for Christmas. When you're done watching the show, click on the link above for Kris' full, unedited interview.		Surgery When the Doctor's Away
Dr. Mandayam Srinivasan of MIT's Touch Lab shows how doctors operate remotely with virtual touch. Learn more about touch technology or read up on the first successful transatlantic touch.

Gifts Under $50
It's that time of year again! Don't fret. We' ll help you with your holiday shopping. Other gift ideas:




More From This Episode
Today's headlines

Question of the day: User loyalty
Vote in our poll and join our Talkback discussion based on a topic from today's headlines.

Faster XP
Tips and tricks to speed up Windows XP.

Holiday gadgets
Mollee Madrigal of The Sharper Image brings in four of the hottest sellers from this year's catalog.

Site of the Nite: Poke the Penguin
What does it take to set a penguin off?

Download accelerators
Find out which free program speeds up your downloads without mucking up your system with spyware.

Windows Tip: Fastest shutdown ever
Thought the one-click shutdown was fast? Morgan shows you the no-click shutdown for Windows XP.

The real deal
Let's take a look at a few of the ads that caught our eye this past weekend. We'll let you know what we think.
  • Deal No. 1: Two-way radios
    • Product: Cobra two-way radios, $29 to $64
    • Patrick and Megan's comments: A great alternative to cellphones, especially if you like outdoor adventures such as hiking and skiing. If you're planning to have multiple users, you might consider getting more channels.


  • Deal No. 2: Label printer
    • Products: Brother PT-65 label printer
    • Patrick and Megan's comments: Patrick loves labelers. This one is cheap. You'll pay $29. It has a mail-in rebate.


  • Deal No. 3: Elmo
    • Products: Chicken-dance Elmo for $14.99
    • Patrick and Megan's comments: Megan thinks this is the toy of the season. It's a good price, and it's already selling on eBay for $25. Our local toy store still has it in stock, so you should be able to find it at a store near you.



Download of the Day: Starter
Speed up your startup with a new startup manager.


Live Calls
USB on motherboard
Michael in International Falls, Minnesota, wants to know how he can find out what version of USB he has in his computer.

Try using Belarc Advisor. It's a free software program that takes an inventory of your computer. It will tell you what kind of ports are on your PC.

End of show emails
A viewer named Darren wants to know why he can't get on the show with his call-in question. There are a few things you can do to increase your chances of your call being picked on the show:
  1. Call the show one hour before airing.
  2. Don't call with a specific question. We need questions that our whole audience can find an interest in.
  3. Be nice to the people who answer your call. If you're rude, mean, or creepy to the call screeners, we'll think you'll be the same way on air.
  4. Keep in mind that the number of calls we take on a daily basis varies. Some days we can take five or six calls, some days only one.

Our phone number is 1.888.989.7879. If you can't get through and you need help, or if you have a specific question, try our message boards.
A viewer wants to know if you can add a second hard drive to the iMac. You can't add an internal drive, but you can add a drive externally, through either USB or FireWire.


Send us email
  • Got something for the show notes? Email us.
  • This page is updated throughout the live broadcast of the show at 7 p.m. Eastern.
  • Looking for a past article? Find it in our archive, which keeps a list of articles up to a year old.